Norfolk Mills - Aylsham Navigation

Aylsham Navigation
River Bure

Aylsham

Over the centuries the whole area was moulded and developed with Millgate becoming a hub of industrial activity once the 11 mile long Aylsham Navigation was opened on completion of the new canal basin excavated alongside the mill in October 1779. A channel was cut to the north of the mill and a staithe with warehousing was built to house the goods transported in and out by wherry. By 1854 wherries plied weekly between Aylsham and Yarmouth. At the height of the water transport years 26 wherries were serving Aylsham.

In 1880 the railway arrived. Aylsham North's M&GN station a few hundred yards away took over some of the traffic when it opened, as did the GER's Aylsham South station. Nearby pubs and inns such as The Anchor thrived for many generations.

1855 layout of Aylsham staithe

Aylsham
Mill & Staithe Maps

Aylsham staithe 1928

The Aylsham Navigation

1773: Navigation authorised by an Act of Parliament

1774: Work started

1779: Navigation opened, running for 9½ miles with 5 locks, one at each of the mills

Aylsham, Burgh, Buxton, Oxnead, Coltishall

26th August 1912: The great flood effectively closed the Naviagation by destroying the locks

1974: Aylsham Canal Basin filled in

Aylsham Navigation

The Commissioners of the Aylsham Navigation are desired to meet at the Black Boys in Aylsham, on Tuesday the 16th of September next, at Ten o'Clock in the Forenoon, to audit and settle the Treasurer's Accounts, when Interest on the Loans will be paid the respective Proprietors. And Notice is hereby given, that the Commissioners of the said Navigation will meet at the Black Boys Aylsham on the first Tuesday in every month after September next, at Ten o'Clock in the Forenoon, until the General annual Meeting to be held in August 1784.
[signed] John ADEY,
Clerk to the Navigation.
Aylsham, Aug. 28, 1783.
Norfolk Chronicle - 30th August 1783

Aylsham lock 1928


Burgh lock 1927	Burgh lock 2003

Oxnead lock after the flood in 1912


Buxton lock c.1910	Buxton lock 1928


Coltishall lock 1905	Great Eastern Railway postcard of Coltishall Lock c.1907

Coltishall lock c.1910

CYRIL ("SAM") SPINKS - Aylsham Mill worker for 55 years interviewed by Lynette Rust and
Ron Peabody. Date unknown

LR - Sam, can you remember starting at the mill?
"Yes"
LR - How old were you when you went?
"Thirteen. I left school and passed an examination, and left school and went to work at the mill at thirteen years old"
LR - Was that in 1904?
"Yes"
LR - Where did you work in the flour mill?
"I started as a boy, when I first went there - errand boy, used to take telegrams to the Post Office, go round to the Belt to the house and get milk for the cats, and that sort of thing ….. and I got 4/- a week twelve hours a day, now that's the honest truth, as soon as I sit in this chair … I was born 13th September 1890"
RP - You'd remember the wherries, then?
"I should think so, I rode on scores of them - 'Cyprus', 'Alexandra', 'Kate', 'Zulu'"
RP - Was 'Zulu' the one that was trapped when the floods came?
"No"
RP - Which one was that? It got caught between here and Buxton, didn't it?
"Yes, - that's right, and I went as a boy, and greased the slides what that keel was on - we took her out of one river, crossed the road into another river, and I was the boy, I had to grease these slides where that keel slide in, you see - she was crossed up, you know, kept upright, and put her out of one river into another 'cause the lock was washed away. And I went there as a boy, and that's the hardest day's work I ever done in my life - carrying them great long pieces of wood, you know,"
RP - Do you remember how big the wherries were?
"Fifteen tons, two men … and they'd go from here to Yarmouth and back, 30 shillings ….. that was their wages 15 shillings each, and they'd be gone a week, and they'd take their food for a week in a frail basket, if you know what that is and they'd bring the grub back again, they'd live on beer going down there and coming back - that is the truth. That was wherrymen in those days"
RP - What did they carry?
"Fifteen tons - anything, coal, kale, cake, corn, maize anything of that sort, and bring groceries up here for the shops up town - onions, great boxes of onions - all sorts".

If you have any memories, anecdotes or photos please let us know and we may be able to use them to update the site. By all means telephone 01263 587564 or

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